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How a Telehealth model could curb Pediatric ED Transfers
When a child or adolescent breaks their arm, parents usually rush them to their local urgent care or closest emergency department. However, these settings cannot always provide the specialized orthopedic care pediatric patients need, so they are shuttled to one or more other facilities. These ED transfers result in unnecessary, inefficient and costly care, fostering patient dissatisfaction and provider frustration.One such incident inspired a team of researchers from Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Thomas Jefferson University and the Hospital for Special Surgery to study whether a telehealth triage approach could reduce pediatric ED transfers related to orthopedic care.Alfred Atanda, M.D., director of the sports medicine program, pediatric orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Nemours, described the incident in an interview.
Medigy Insights
The current fee-for-service reimbursement model prioritizes the patient meeting with the healthcare provider in person. However, as virtual healthcare's rise in the last five years has indicated, adding virtual health tools can make patient-provider interactions far more convenient and cost-effective.This led Atanda and his fellow researchers to develop a theoretical peer-to-peer telehealth intervention to virtually triage patients before they arrive at the ED. Under the model, the ED physicians caring for a pediatric patient with an acute musculoskeletal injury could consult with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon via telehealth, resulting in an informed treatment plan for the patient.
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